The bust of Nefertiti from the Ägyptisches Museum Berlin collection, presently in the Neues Museum.
OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) showed a very intresting two hours of discussion today about the widespread practice of equating worth with skin color. The two hour documentary is actually two one hour segments. The first, Dark Girls, (November 17, 2011) dealt with the problems that very dark skinned women with tightly curled hair endure. The second hour, Light Girls, (January 19, 2015), discussed the unique problems that very light skinned black women struggle with. What struck me is that both groups feel as if the color of their skin determines their worth. Both groups feel "less than" solely based on their skin color.
Dark Women use skin treatments to bleach their skin. They spend countless hours trying to tame their hair. In the documentaries, several light skinned actresses confessed that they regularly used a tanning bed to darken their skin. Dark skinned women wish to be lighter, and light skinned women wish to be darker. Each feels guilty.
According to AKIRA X ROBERSON in The Final Call, Perspectives, "Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin: Breaking the Mental Chains" ( LAST UPDATED: MAY 19, 2014)
People often think that stereotypes are made by another race and their view of the race they are labeling. But what most don’t think about are the labeling and divisive stereotypes that are used within a race; such as stereotypes often used in the Black community.
This type of division in a race can be poisoning and indirectly divisive.
Stereotypes such as Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin within the Black community are cancerous, dangerous, and shape how we view ourselves and our people. Fortunately, we can solve this problem by teaching and mentally reshaping how we’ve been trained to think and behave.
This stereotyping is seen as joking and not serious, at least that’s what is thought.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex defines beauty as:
A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or color, proportion, authenticity, and originality.
I have included a picture of the bust of Nefertiti because she is considered by many to have the most symmetrical features of any historical woman. Many plastic surgeons use her features as the ideal standard.
King Tut One.com says:
Nefertiti is known for her elegant beauty. Her bust has been an icon for many women and for many modern cosmetic lines. Many societies around the world have adopted the queen as a symbol of true beauty. Some historians have even proclaimed her the most beautiful woman in the world. Whatever people have said about her, one thing holds true—she remains renowned for her beauty after her death and during her life as a queen.
I was very fortunate when I lived in Germany, because I was able to travel to Berlin. I actually saw the bust of Nefertiti in person. The bust is stunning, even after thousands of years. The lady must have been extraordinary.
Please join me below the break for my, as always, unique take on this subject.
I think it is important to observe that one of the most renouned beauties of all time was a woman of color. I think this fact shows that we do have the ability to disregard color and simply appreciate beauty.
Causes of Color explains:
Human beings come in a glorious spectrum of different colors: light, dark, plain or freckly skin; black, brunette, blond, auburn, and white hair; and eyes that are blue, hazel, green, amber and brown, to name just a few. It’s amazing to realize that most of this color is attributed to a single class of pigments: the melanins.
What are melanins?
Melanins compose a class of compounds that serve predominantly as a pigment. These pigments are derivatives of the amino acid tyrosine. There are at least three types of naturally occurring melanins: eumelanin, pheomelanin and neuromelanin. Both the chemical composition and the physical properties differ for the various types of melanin, suggesting that their chemical and biological responses may behave differently when exposed to light.
Melanins, those pesky little compounds, have caused all this fuss. What a shame that humans allow such superficial differences to come between us. Part of the stregnth of the United States used to be our ability to assimilate and appreciate everyone, no matter their color, religion, or cluture.
I can't claim to understand how black woman feel about color. I did have an experience that exposed me to the illogical hatred of racial prejudice while I was a child.
When I was four years old my family moved to Waco TX. My father was only a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force at that time. His rank was not high enough for him to qualify for the limited base housing. My dad's heritage is Native American. His straight black hair, brown eyes, high cheekbones, and reddish brown skin announces his heritage. My mother, whose heritage is also Native American, looks like her German Grandfather. Her skin was very pale, her hair was light brown, and her eyes were green. Her Native Heritage was not evident.
We rented a cute litle house on Norma St. I remember the name of the street because my mother's first name was Norma. Unfortunately, my family immediatly attracted attention. The local residents assumed that a white woman, my mother, was married to an Indian, my father. In pre-1960 Texas, interracial marriage was not popular. Our house was egged. Someone beat my father with a baseball bat. We received threats. The other children in that neighborhood were not allowed to play with me. Of course, I didn't understand why any of this was happening. Like a child will, I assumed that there was something wrong with me.
The Air Force moved us into Base Housing, in order to assure our saftey. Our home was a duplex located at the end of one of the runways. Even on a military base, the bias against Native Americans and interracial marriage flourished. Most other children were not allowed to play with me. Many of them bullied me. I learned to be happy playing by myself. My pesonality, which had been very extroverted, changed.
My first grade teacher had a deep prejudice against Native Americans. I spent most of the first grade wearing a dunce cap, while seated on a stool in the corner. Needless to say, I could not do well under those circumstances. I also had some form of dyslexia, and couldn't learn to read or spell. Instead of trying to help me, my teacher made fun of me. She allowed my classmates to bully me, and make fun of me. In fact she encouraged it. When I tried to tell my parents about how I was treated, they both thought I was exaggerating.
That year, I was diagnosed with asthma. One of the items I was most allergic to was peanuts. One afternoon at lunch, my teacher forced me to eat the peanut butter sandwich that was served. I protested, but in the end, I was more afraid of her than I was of an asthma attack. About fifteen minutes later, I began to have trouble breathing. I asked for my rescue inhaler, which she held for me each day. She accused me of "faking to get attention," and refused to give me my inhaler.
In the course of the attack, I passed out. I fell out of my desk, and was lying on the floor. One of the other students got really scared, because I turned blue, and ran down to the office for help. My teacher, believing that I was 'faking it," had left me lying in the floor. By the time an ambulance arrived, I was not breathing, and I came very close to dying. The teacher, who allowed me to become so ill, was not fired. She continued teaching. I was moved into the "special needs" class.
What I learned from that incident, was that prejudice, as long as it is commonly held, is condoned. The experience nearly destroyed my self worth. I was convinced that I was retarded. Those convictions followed me for many years, and were difficult for me to overcome.
Children, who grow up in an atmosphere of prejudice, are absolutely harmed. The children, who are on the receiving side of prejudice, have their spirit and sence of self injured. Many carry those scars for the rest of their lives. It is difficult to rebuild a sence of positive self worth after living through such a negative experience. Think about how nearly impossible it must be for a child who lives that stark reality their entire life.
I think it injures the perpetrators as well. Such an atmosphere of hatred must leave scars, although they are scars of a different type. A feeling of entitlement, based solely on skin color, must cause deep frustration when they have to face the realities of adult life. There are fewer locations and businesses, where such prejudice is tolerated, each year.
I, for one, will be happy when the day finally arrives when we are all one color. By then, knowing how humans are, we will have found another physical attribute to fuel our prejudice.
If we are to have any chance of taking our government back from the mega corporations and billionaires, we must come together and vote their "tools" out of office. We can't achieve that goal unless we are willing to set such petty differences aside, and come together for the common good.
For some reason, seeing the two documentaries, made me really think about the problem of division among the poor of our country. Maybe that was an odd connection to make from that material, and I'm afraid that my logic here is a little scattered.
I hope that we can all begin to realize that we have ALL been shoved off the boat and are adrift in a leaky skow. Only teamwork can ensure that any of us reach land safely.